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The Florida House is poised on Wednesday to send Gov. Rick Scott a medical malpractice bill (SB 1792) that would place limits on the kind of expert witnesses can be used in a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Florida’s doctors could be on the verge of winning a legislative battle that could make it harder for patients to pursue medical malpractice claims.

The Florida House is poised on Wednesday to send Gov. Rick Scott a medical malpractice bill (SB 1792) that would place limits on the kind of expert witnesses can be used in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The measure would also allow attorneys defending a physician to ask subsequent health care providers about a patient.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, and one of the bill sponsors, insisted that while the state made a series of changes a decade ago to restrict medical malpractice lawsuits that more was needed in order to make Florida a “magnet” for health care professionals.

He said that granting defense attorneys access to doctors treating a patient would help decide quickly whether a pending lawsuit could be settled or was frivolous.

“Those claims that are marginal and lack merit will have less of an opportunity to go through litigation,” Gaetz insisted.

The measure is a top priority of the Florida Medical Association and was pushed through the process with the help of Senate President Don Gaetz, who is the father of the bill sponsor.

Florida already has limits in place on medical malpractice lawsuits. Amid an outcry about medical malpractice insurance premiums the Republican-controlled Legislature made a series of changes in 2003 including putting in place a tiered-system that caps the amount of damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice cases.

The Florida Senate already approved the bill by a 27-12 margin earlier this month. During debate several senators sharply criticized the portion of the bill that places strict limits on what type of experts can testify in medical malpractice cases.

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